More

Liquid-Drop Model and

the Semiempirical
Mass Formula

The fact that the density and the binding energy per nucleon are approximately the
same for all (stable) nuclei was first noticed in the early 1930s, after a sufficient
number of atomic masses had been measured. This led to the comparison of the
nucleus with a liquid drop, which also has a constant density, independent of the
number of molecules. The energy required to remove molecules from a liquid is
the heat of vaporization. This is proportional to the mass or number of molecules in
the liquid, just as the binding energy is proportional to the number of nucleons.
Using this analogy, Weizscker in 1935 developed a formula for the mass of a
nucleus (or the binding energy, since the two are related by Equation 11-10) as a
function of A and Z, called the Weizscker semiempirical mass formula. We shall
write down one version of this formula and discuss the origin of the terms. The
binding energy is written as
B  [a 1A  a 2A2/3  a 3Z 2A1/3  a 4(A  2Z)2A1  a 5 A1/2]c 2

11-12

The first term in this equation accounts for the fact that the number of interactions is proportional to A and explains why the binding energy per nucleon is approximately constant.
The second term is a correction to the first. The nucleons on the surface of the
nucleus have fewer near neighbors, thus fewer interactions, than those in the interior
of the nucleus. The effect is analogous to the surface tension of a liquid drop. The
surface area is proportional to R2, which is proportional to A2/3. This term is negative
because fewer interactions imply a smaller total binding energy. This is the term that
accounts for the sharp decline in the binding energy per nucleon at low A values in
Figure 11-10.
The third term accounts for the positive electrostatic energy of a charged drop.
Because of the Coulomb repulsion of the protons, this effect equals the average electrostatic energy of a proton-proton pair, about 6ke2/5R (see Problem 11-46) times the
number of such pairs, which is Z (Z  1)/2. Thus, the third term is
6 1 e 2 Z(Z  1)
3 1 (Ze)2

 a 3Z 2A1/3
5 40 R
2
5 40 R 0 A1/3

11-13
(Continued)

More

Fig. 11-10 The binding

energy per nucleon versus
atomic mass number A. The
solid curve represents the
Weizscker semiempirical
binding-energy formula,
Equation 11-12.

20Ne
16
8 12 O
C

7
4He

Ca Fe Zn

Kr

Mo

24Mg

Te

Sm

Lu

Hg

Ra

11B

B /A, MeV

74

7Li
6Li

5
4
3

3He

2
1
0

2H

50

100

150

200

This positive energy of repulsion decreases the binding energy, so this term is negative. Although this effect exists for all nuclei with Z  1, it is most important for
high-Z nuclei and is primarily responsible for the slow decline in the binding energy
per nucleon for large values of A.
The fourth term has no analogy in the analysis of a liquid drop. It is a quantummechanical term that accounts for the fact that if N  Z, the energy of the nucleus
increases and the binding energy decreases because of the exclusion principle. The
quantity A  2Z  N  Z  2Z  N  Z is the number of neutrons in excess of the
number of protons. The expression (A  2Z)2/A  (N  Z)2/A is an empirical term
that is zero if N  Z and is independent of the sign of N  Z. It is referred to as the
symmetry term.
The last term is an empirical one to account for the pairing tendency of the
nucleons that was mentioned earlier in connection with Table 11-2. The contribution
to B is positive if Z and N are both even and negative for both Z and N odd. For the
case of Z or N even and the other odd, the term is taken to be zero. (See Table 11-3.)
The results of many experiments have been used to fit Equation 11-12, or refinements of it, to the binding energies calculated from the measured masses. The solid
curve in Figure 11-10 is one such fit. Table 11-3 lists the values of the coefficients a1
through a5 used to produce the curve in Figure 11-10.
From Equations 11-10 and 11-12 and the preceding discussion, Weizsckers
empirical formula for the mass M (Z, A) of a nucleus can then be written as
M(Z, A)c 2  Zm pc 2  Nm nc 2  B
M(Z, A)c 2  Zm pc 2  Nm nc 2  [a 1A  a 2A2/3
 a3Z2A1/3  a4(A  2Z)2A1  a5 A1/2]c2

11-14

Equation 11-14 is accurate to about 0.2 MeV, which is quite good, all things considered. It has many useful applications. For example, a refined version of Equation 11-14
has been used by P. A. Seeger7 to compute and tabulate nearly 7500 atomic masses,
including many that have obviously not yet been observed. It also provides some
(Continued)

Liquid-Drop Model and the Semiempirical Mass Formula

TABLE 11-3 Best-fit coefficients for the Weizscker formula

a5 (N, Z)
Coefficient

a1

a2

a3

Even-odd,
Even-even Odd-odd odd-even

a4

Value (MeV/c2) 15.67 17.23 0.75 93.2

12

12

helpful panoramic views of nuclear properties. For example, setting (M/Z)A  0

yields the value of Z for which a series of isobars has minimum mass. Determining
the coefficients experimentally with R0 as a parameter allows its calculation, yielding
R0  1.237 fm in excellent agreement with the other methods discussed earlier in this
section. Plotting M (Z, A)c2 values from Equation 11-14 as a third dimension on the
N versus Z graph yields a contourlike graph in the rough shape of a valley whose floor
lies along the line of stability. The resulting three-dimensional graph is very useful in
discussing beta-decay radioactivity, as we shall see in Section 11-4.

EXAMPLE 11-4 The Last Neutron in 4He Find the binding energy of the last
neutron in 4He.

Solution
1.

The binding energy B of the second neutron in 4He is given by:

B  ( m)c 2
 (m(3He)  m n)c 2  m(4He)c 2

2.

The masses are tabulated in Appendix A:

m(4He)  4.002603 u
m(3He)  3.016030 u
m n  1.008665 u

3.

Substituting these values into the expression for B in step 1 gives:

B  (3.016030  1.008665  4.002603)c 2
 (0.022092 u)c 2 

931.5 MeV
(1 u)c 2

 20.58 MeV

EXAMPLE 11-5 Nuclear Mass of 50Fe Iron isotopes 49Fe and 51Fe are both known
short-lived radioactive positron emitters, but 50Fe has not yet been discovered.
Compute the expected value for the nuclear mass of 50Fe.
(Continued)

75

76

More

Solution

Fe has Z  26, N  24, and A  50. Using the masses of the proton mp and neutron mn from Table 11-1 and the values of the Weizscker coefficients from Table
11-3, Equation 11-14 yields
50

M(26, 50)  26  1.007276 u  24  1.008665 u

[15.67  50  17.23  (50)2/3  0.75  (26)2  (50)1/3
 93.2  (60  2  26)2(50)1  12  (50)1/2]MeV/c 2
M(26, 50)  50.40 u  [294.0]MeV/c 2
The term in the square brackets is the binding energy. Thus, in energy units the
binding energy of 50Fe is 294.0 MeV. In unified mass units the binding energy is
294.0

MeV
1u
 0.32 u
2
c 931.5 MeV/c 2

The mass of 50Fe in u is then

M(26, 50)  50.40 u  0.32 u  50.08 u
Notice that the binding energy per nucleon for 50Fe is about 5.9 MeV, a value well
below that of the stable isotopes in the vicinity of A  50 in Figure 11-10.

EXAMPLE 11-6 The Isotopes of Be Beryllium (Z  4) has eight known isotopes,

only one of which, 9Be, is stable. Compare the atomic mass of 8Be with that of
two 4He atoms and the atomic mass of 9Be with that of 7Li and 2H. What can be
concluded from these comparisons?

Solution
The atomic masses of these isotopes are given in Appendix A as follows:
H  2.014102
4
He  4.002602
7
Li  7.016003
2

Be  8.005305
Be  9.012174

3
9

He and 8Be
The atomic mass of two 4He atoms is 8.005204 u. The mass of 8Be is larger
than that by 1.01  104 u  0.0941 MeV/c2. Thus, we would expect the 8Be
nucleus to break up into two 4He, releasing about 0.0941 MeV in the process. This
is indeed what is observed experimentally.
7

Li-2H and 9Be

The sum of the masses of 7Li and 2H is 9.030105 u. The mass of 9Be is
smaller by 0.017931 u  16.7 MeV/c2. This means that the spontaneous disintegration of the 9Be nucleus into a deuteron and 7Li cannot occur.